Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, under the universal service obligation what requirement does Royal Mail have to report and monitor the delivery of second class post.

Ofcom is the independent regulator of postal services and is responsible for setting Royal Mail’s performance targets under the Universal Service Obligation (USO).

Ofcom’s regulation, under its Designated Universal Service Provider Condition, requires Royal Mail to monitor its performance, or procure the monitoring of its performance, on its USO services including Second Class mail. Royal Mail also publishes quarterly and annual reports on its quality of service. These are published on the website of Royal Mail’s parent company, International Distribution Services: www.internationaldistributionservices.com/en/regulation/universal-service-obligation/quality-of-service/.